Federal funding to states for abstinence-only sex education programs was restored in a provision of the health reform measure recently signed by President Obama. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) proposed that $50 million be authorized annually over five years for states to support abstinence-only programs, and his provision survived the contentious legislative process that produced the health bill.

Because Conservatives are just that.... conservative. The way they seem to run on Christian values pisses me off to no end as a non Christian. They even had to make sure that the health care bill left out abortions. I wish I could say I was surprised, but I can't. Nobody wants to think about little Tommy and Susie having sex in the back of Tommy's car, but it's going to happen whether they like it or not. Then Susie is going to get pregnant and everyone will blame her, even though she didn't even know how her own cycle works let alone how get and use birth control. I really wish people would stop burying their heads in the sand and thinking of sex as dirty and face reality.

Because Conservatives are just that.... conservative. The way they seem to run on Christian values pisses me off to no end as a non Christian. They even had to make sure that the health care bill left out abortions. I wish I could say I was surprised, but I can't. Nobody wants to think about little Tommy and Susie having sex in the back of Tommy's car, but it's going to happen whether they like it or not. Then Susie is going to get pregnant and everyone will blame her, even though she didn't even know how her own cycle works let alone how get and use birth control. I really wish people would stop burying their heads in the sand and thinking of sex as dirty and face reality.

There is a difference between conseratives (I'm a moderate conservative republican).

I don't put my faith into my politics and I do try to put a little common sense into what I see as smart things.. (which sadly makes me a MINORITY in the party I have the most in common with).

And the rest of my family are more conservative than me. None of them are the sort of 'froth at the mouth' Christians you seem to think all conservatives.

You said it yourself, you're a minority. My grandparents are Republicans and they too have half a brain in their heads. Sadly though, those in the public eye, and those that make the laws are the ones pissing me off. I would dearly love to see the party taken over by smart and reasonable people.

I think Angel was referring to Conservatives as the Republican Party, which in my opinion makes him completely justified to make statements. We can have an argument about semantics, but sadly a "Social Conservative" in our society is not a Libertarian by any stretch of the imagination. If you want to use American Politics as a benchmark, a Social Liberal and Fiscal Conservative makes a Libertarian (I would personally argue that it should be Conservative Fiscally and Socially if we were using a better scale, sadly the semantics have changed). The reason for the shift in labeling, I think, is that in America, Conservative has come to mean Traditional and Liberal has come to mean Progressive. I'd say Progressive describes the Democrats fairly well (in the academic sense, not the Glenn Beck know-nothing way) and Traditional fits the Republicans perfectly.

On topic, I don't think this is a big deal. The programs are going to continue to be funded (they're not new) and many others are getting the axe. Like any social change, it takes time, we have to slowly move away from ineffective ideas and backward ways of thinking as long as they're not hugely damaging.

Abstinence only education programs are out of touch with reality, but in my opinion they're not worse than nothing. We live in the information age, it only takes a trickle of knowledge and the rest will come, they can't shelter people from the possibility of using contraceptives with the advent of the internet. I just don't think it has that huge of an impact. I am, however, willing to change my point of view if anyone has any statistics that show that they're hugely damaging.